East Africa’s wetlands host charming gallinules strutting across lily pads from Lake Victoria to coastal mangroves.

Common moorhens bob their white-flagged tails along every waterhole, dam, and papyrus edge. The spectacular African purple swamphen iridescent blue with red legs stalks through reeds at Lake Naivasha and the Nile’s upper reaches.

Lesser moorhens inhabit quieter marshes, while Allen’s gallinules hide in Kakamega Forest’s streams. Black crakes skulk along vegetated shores, uttering frog-like croaks.